Whether your passion is Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Harp, or Guitar, you will find a program to challenge and inspire you at the University of Oklahoma School of Music. You will learn from a faculty of world-renowned performers and teachers, perform in the school’s large and small ensembles, and be exposed to a wide variety of musical styles and genres. You will join a community of supportive peers who share your commitment and love of music, and you will enjoy the daily experience of practicing and performing in the OU School of Music’s beautiful facilities.
Explore our several undergraduate degree options, including music performance, music education, double-major opportunities, and music minors, to find the best fit for your goals.
Further your education at the Master’s or Doctoral level by choosing the OU School of Music for graduate study. Scholarship assistance is available but competitive, including tuition-waiver support, string-specific cash awards, graduate assistantships, and yearly openings in the School of Music’s official string quartets, the Claeys Quartet (undergraduate) and the Crouse Quartet (graduate). Besides these awards and opportunities, OU also offers the Mark Allen Everett Graduate Fellowship in Strings, which supports 2 full-time graduate String Fellows annually.
Office: Catlett Music Center 244D
Hailed as “truly communicative” (New York Times) and an “impeccable and powerful soloist” (Neue Musikzeitung), Franco-American violinist Elissa Cassini captivates audiences worldwide through her expressive tone and engaging presence. Her innovative programs such as those created through her Duplexity Concerts organization have been praised as “an imaginatively conceived recital” (Strad Magazine).
Elissa’s most recent solo project Résonances inter-relates works by J.S. Bach, Kaija Saariaho and Missy Mazzoli, combined with visuals, electronics, improvisation and staging to create an immersive musical narrative; and was premiered in March 2023 at the Collégiale Saint Martin festival in Angers France.
After having served three seasons as concertmaster under maestro Isaac Karabtchevsky with the Orquestra Petrobras Sinfonica in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Elissa has been invited as guest concertmaster with leading orchestra’s including the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Rouen Opera and as guest leader for new music ensembles such as Meitar Ensemble in Tel-Aviv.
Elissa’s passion for new music was sparked during her graduate degree at the Juilliard School when Pierre Boulez heard her perform his Anthèmes and invited her as concertmaster of his orchestra at the Lucerne Festival. She has since collaborated with internationally acclaimed composers, such as Kaija Saariaho, Beat Furrer, Georg Friedrich Hass and Tristan Murail.
Elissa’s latest commissions include a concerto by Theodore Wiprud on the theme of climate action to be premiered by the South Dakota Symphony and Conditions de Lumière, a spectralist concerto by Jérôme Combier, premiered with the Argento Ensemble in New York, the Cairn Ensemble in Paris, and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne in Montreal.
Elissa’s concerto appearances include Philip Glass’s American Four Seasons (Orchestre National de Bretagne), Philippe Leroux’s d’Aller (Camerata Aberta in Sao Paulo), Anders Eliasson’s concerto (Arcos Chamber Orchestra at the Berlin Konzerthaus) and Nicolas Bacri’s Winter’s Night (Orchestre de l’Opéra de Massy).
Office: Catlett Music Center 229
Email: gleblanc@ou.edu
Website: gayeleblanc.com
Ms. Gaye LeBlanc, a Dallas native, is enjoying an active career as an orchestral harpist, recording artist, teacher and class lecturer. She is currently principal harpist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic since 1998, Senior Lecturer at the University of Oklahoma and recently joined the Sewanee Music Festival as harp faculty. Her orchestral experience also includes having played principal harp with Fort Smith Symphony (AR) Tulsa Symphony and Opera, Lawton Philharmonic (OK) OK Mozart Festival with the NY Amici Orchestra and nine years with Arizona Music-fest in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Before making Oklahoma her home, Ms. LeBlanc played principal harp in several orchestras in the metropolitan Dallas area including Richardson Symphony, Plano Symphony, Irving Symphony, Abilene Philharmonic and Opera, and Shreveport Symphony (LA).
Ms. LeBlanc regularly performs with touring Broadway show orchestras throughout the years, including My Fair Lady, Peter Pan, and Beauty and the Beast. Also with OKC Lyric Theater orchestra which shows include The King and I, Carousel, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, Oklahoma, Singin in the Rain, Evita, The Producers, A Chorus Line and The Fantastiks mostly conducted by David Andrews Rogers (DAR).
She has also been active as a concerto soloist with orchestras throughout the area performing composers Debussy, Mozart, Malecki and most recently the Hannah Lash Concerto No. 1 for Harp and chamber orchestra with the OKC Philharmonic in May, 2021. Critics praised her performance as providing a “range of color and virtuosic energy which brough sharp staccatos, disjunct shapes and striking contrasts into relief.” (The Oklahoman) or “whose virtuoso work in the famous duet and throughout the opera was simply wonderful” (Opera News) for Bizet’s opera The Pearl Fishers.
As a recording artist, she has recorded movements of Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols with the Dallas Orpheus Chamber Singers along with the Stephen Paulus’ Three Nativity Carols. In 2010 and 2011, Ms. LeBlanc recorded the William Grant Still Symphonies No. 2 & 3, Symphonies No. 4 & 5 with the Fort Smith Symphony (Naxos label)
In concert, she has backed a wide variety of artists, including Ray Charles, Josh Groshban, Ben Folds, Joshua Bell, YoYo Ma, Kristin Chenoweth, Vince Gill, Garth Brooks amongst others.
As a teacher, Ms. LeBlanc has been at the University of Oklahoma since 1998 where she built the harp program from the ground up. Starting with a dormant department, she found the stolen OU harp, raised funds for two new Lyon & Healy harps, received two more beautiful instruments, added Harp Pedagogy, Harp Orchestral Literature, harp ensemble to the degree program and has graduated several harp students throughout the years. She has also been teaching her two classes of Understanding Music to Non-majors since 2000 and enjoys meeting all types of students who thought they “didn’t like” Classical music.
Ms. LeBlanc has also taught harp at Oklahoma City University (OCU) from 1998 – 2010, University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) from 2000 – 2001 and the University of North Texas (UNT) from 2005 – 2006. She started and directed the Harp Oklahoma Workshop from 2012 – 2020 with other faculty harpists Rachel Starr Ellins, Shelly Du, Julie Smith Phillips and Yolanda Kondonassis. She has taught at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute.
Her education consists of starting the harp at the age of 20 after many years of piano, theory, organ and flute. Ms. LeBlanc earned from her Bachelors in Performance at the University of North Texas with harp professor Ellen Ritscher and Masters of Music in Performance with Dallas Symphony Harpist Susan Pejovich. She spent five summers at the Salzedo School in Camden, Maine with Alice Chalifoux and two additional summers at Boston University Tanglewood Institute with Lucile Lawrence.
Email: rneece@ou.edu
Office: Reynolds Performing Arts Center 2245
Rachel Neece is Instructor of Music at the University of Oklahoma, where she teaches courses on music appreciation and American popular music. Before coming to OU, Neece taught music history and film music courses at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She has presented at the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association Conference and at the Northeast Modern Language Association Conference.
Neece is also active as a classical guitar instructor. She taught collegiate lessons at UWSP and began training in the Suzuki method in 2020. She taught at the nationally recognized Aber Suzuki Center in Stevens Point and now maintains a studio at the Norman School for Strings.
She received her Master of Arts (Musicology) from the Eastman School of Music in 2019. She also holds a Bachelor of Music (Guitar) and a Master of Music (Guitar) from Eastman, where she studied with Nicholas Goluses.
Office: Catlett Music Center 244B
Email: mneumann@ou.edu
Dr. Mark Neumann joined the faculty of the University of Oklahoma School of Music as viola professor in 2009. A native of Edmonton, Canada, his musical studies took place at the University of Victoria, The Cleveland Institute of Music, and The Juilliard School in New York, from which he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1995. His principal teachers have included such eminent violists as Karen Tuttle (Professor, The Juilliard School), Robert Vernon (Principal Viola, The Cleveland Orchestra), and Jaroslav Karlovsky (Principal Viola, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra). Other renowned violists with whom he has worked in festival and masterclass settings include Kim Kashkashian, Barbara Westphal, Heidi Castleman, Donald McInnes, Gerald Stanick and Eric Shumsky.
Dr. Neumann’s versatile performing career has included appearances as soloist with the Victoria Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic and Thunder Bay Symphony orchestras in Canada, the symphony orchestras of Big Spring (Texas) and Rome (Georgia) in the USA, the Cusco Symphony Orchestra in Peru, and the Collegium Musicum of Straubing, Germany. As a chamber musician he has performed at the International Performance Symposium in Goiania, Brazil; the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria; the Victoria International Festival, the Banff Festival of the Arts, and the Pacific Rim Summer Festival in Canada; and at the Sarasota Music Festival and the “Academy of Music” at Ramapo College (New Jersey) in the USA. Among the artists with whom he has collaborated in chamber music are Robert Chen, Daniel Heifetz, Peter Winograd, Levon Ambartsumian, and Jose Maria Blumenschein (violin); Edgar Meyer and Milton Masciadri (double bass); Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, David Geber and Joshua Roman (cello); and David Shifrin (clarinet). Additionally, he has participated in broadcast recordings of chamber music for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and for Deutschland-Funk in Munich, Germany.
As an orchestral musician, Dr. Neumann has performed extensively with many professional ensembles including the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (as Assistant Principal Viola), the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra (as Principal Viola), the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, Canada. During the course of these orchestral activities he has participated in concert tours to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and 8 European countries, and has performed under such internationally-renowned conductors as Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, Eduardo Mata, Sir Roger Norrington, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Zdenek Macal, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Eiji Oue, Gerard Schwartz, Mario Bernardi, Franz-Paul Decker, Trevor Pinnock, Hans Graf, and Krzysztof Penderecki among many others.
Dr. Neumann held previous faculty positions as viola professor at Texas Tech University and at the University of Georgia, and has presented numerous recitals and masterclasses in China, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and across the USA. He has been a frequent faculty artist at music festivals in South America, including the Vale Veneto Winter Festival and the Santa Catarina Strings Academy in Brazil as well as the Cusco Music Festival in Peru, and was also an invited solo performer at the International Viola Congresses in Adelaide, Australia (2007) and Rochester, New York (2012). Additionally, he appeared as a solo performer at the 2016 American Viola Society (AVS) Festival in Oberlin, Ohio and the 2018 AVS Festival in Los Angeles, California, and presented lecture-recitals at the 2 most recent AVS Festivals in Columbus, Georgia (2022) and Los Angeles (2024). Another recent highlight was a visit to China in September 2024 to undertake an 8-day guest artist residency at the invitation of the Wuhan Conservatory of Music. Dr. Neumann’s solo CD album, entitled “Romantic Showpieces for Viola”, was released by the ACA Digital label of Atlanta, Georgia in 2009 to critical acclaim.
Currently, Dr. Neumann performs regularly as the violist of the Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble of Oklahoma City and as Assistant Principal Viola of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra. He maintains a widely active schedule as a performer, teacher and clinician in Oklahoma as well as nationally and internationally.
Office: Catlett Music Center 245
Email: jruck@ou.edu
Website: jonathanruck.com
American cellist Jonathan Ruck maintains a multifaceted career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician and pedagogue. Praised for his “virtuosic command” and “full-bodied tone,” he has performed throughout North America, Europe, Australia and the Caribbean. Festival appearances include recent engagements at the Oregon Bach Festival, Sanibel Island Festival, OK Mozart, Unruly Music, and as principal cellist of the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico. Jonathan currently serves as the principal cellist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
An avid chamber musician, Jonathan Ruck is a core member of Brightmusic, Oklahoma City’s resident chamber music ensemble. He has performed as a guest cellist with the American Chamber Players and Penderecki String Quartet and given recent world-premiere performances of chamber works by Christopher Theofanidis and Sydney Corbett. As a founding member of the Dubinsky String Quartet, Jonathan was a prizewinner in the Fischoff and Coleman national chamber music competitions.
Jonathan Ruck joined the University of Oklahoma School of Music in 2006 as one of the youngest faculty appointees in the school’s history. Previous appointments include serving as the teaching assistant to both Janos Starker and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a visiting professorship at the Depauw University School of Music. During the summer, he has enjoyed teaching on the faculties of the Fresno Summer Orchestra and Opera Academy (FOOSA), the Zodiac Festival in Southern France and the Indiana University Summer String Academy. In 2018, he founded the University of Oklahoma Summer String Academy and continues as its director. Graduates of Jonathan Ruck’s cello studio have been accepted to continue their studies at schools such as Juilliard, Indiana University, Eastman, Oberlin, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and can be found in ensembles and on college and pre-college faculties throughout the world.
Jonathan Ruck currently lives in Norman, Oklahoma with his wife, violinist Katrin Statmatis, and their two daughters, Arianna and Galia.
Office: Catlett Music Center 244C
Email: a.stoops@ou.edu
Anthony Stoops currently serves as Professor of Double Bass at the University of Oklahoma School of Music. Since winning first prize in the International Society of Bassists solo competition, he has maintained an active international profile as a soloist, improviser, chamber musician, composer and educator. Stoops has performed as a member of over a dozen orchestras including the Detroit, Columbus (OH) and Toledo Symphony orchestras, and the Michigan Opera Theater among many others, under many of the world’s great conductors such as Sir Georg Solti, Neeme Järvi, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez and Charles Dutoit. As an educator, Dr. Stoops has given masterclasses and presentations in Europe, South America and throughout the U.S at venues such as the Paris Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Wroclaw, Poland, University of Michigan, University of Belo Horizonte and many others. In addition to his duties at the University of Oklahoma, Stoops serves as Principal Bass of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. He lives in Norman, OK with his wife and two children.
